The reality of the word Part 4
The accurate knowledge of the scriptures is only arrived at when it has been rightly taught. This is because no believer in Christ can know God and walk in the privileges available to him or her outside the accurate knowledge they have with respect to the scriptures.
As an overview, the reality of who God is, God’s personality, disposition, actions and abilities can only be seen in the person of the God-man. This talks about the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus is 100% God as though not man and 100% man as though not God. The writer of the book of Hebrews called him the express image of God. We saw that the prophets of the Old Testament spoke in diverse forms and manners.This means they spoke in a progressive manner.
In John 5: 39-47
39 Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.
40 And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life.
41 I receive not honour from men.
42 But I know you, that ye have not the love of God in you.
43 I am come in my Father’s name, and ye receive me not: if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive.
44 How can ye believe, which receive honour one of another, and seek not the honour that cometh from God only?
45 Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father: there is one that accuseth you, even Moses, in whom ye trust.
46 For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me; for he wrote of me.
47 But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words?”
Jesus was addressing a Jewish audience who knew the scriptures by heart. They searched the scriptures and thought by reading them, they would receive eternal life. However, Jesus’ response to them was contrary to their thinking. He told them the scriptures testify about him. The scriptures when read individually and collectively testify about the person of the Christ. Beyond the reading of the scriptures, the reader must know there is a personality the scriptures when put together testify of. That is the Christ.
Jesus also affirmed to the Jewish audience he was talking to that Moses wrote about him. Moses like we pointed out before wrote the the first five books of the bible called the Pentateuch. Jesus told them if they had believed the writings of Moses, they would have believed him as he wrote about him. It means Moses did write about Jesus Christ in his first five books of the Bible. Jesus was present in the activities of the Old Testament not as human but as a person. All human beings are visible but not all visible beings are humans.
In John 1:1-5
1“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
2 The same was in the beginning with God.
3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.
4 In him was life; and the life was the light of men.
5 And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.
Here, John is taking his explanation from the Old Testament writings because every writer of the New Testament took what they wrote from the Old Testament. The verbiages used by John in his writings will have their origin from the Old Testament. This is because the Old Testament has the New Testament in its foreground while the New Testament has the Old Testament in its background. ‘Word’ as used by John is the Greek word logos which means a thought, a subject matter, an idea, a plan. However, the Hebrew term for ‘word’ as used by John is dabbar. Dabbar refers to an experience, what you can see, hear, feel and hold. Dabbar is not speech or utterance.
In Genesis 3:8 “And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden.
You don’t see words or touch words. Voices don’t walk. That must be a person. The presence of the lord is the person of the lord.
Genesis 15: 1-4
After this, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision:
“Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield,[a] your very great reward.[b]”
2 But Abram said, “Sovereign Lord, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit[c] my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?” 3 And Abram said, “You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir.”
4 Then the word of the Lord came to him: “This man will not be your heir, but a son who is your own flesh and blood will be your heir.”
Again, the term “word” was used here in verses 1 and 4. Words can’t be seen. Abraham’s encounter in a vision must have been with a person. He had interaction with a person. This speaks of an experience.
1st Samuel 3: 1 and verse 10
1 And the child Samuel ministered unto the Lord before Eli. And the word of the Lord was precious in those days; there was no open vision.
10 And the Lord came, and stood, and called as at other times, Samuel, Samuel. Then Samuel answered, Speak; for thy servant heareth.
The word of the lord and the lord refer to the same person.
Jeremiah 1: 1-14
The words of Jeremiah the son of Hilkiah, of the priests that were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin:
2 To whom the word of the Lord came in the days of Josiah the son of Amon king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign.
3 It came also in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, unto the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah the son of Josiah king of Judah, unto the carrying away of Jerusalem captive in the fifth month.
4 Then the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
5 Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.
6 Then said I, Ah, Lord God! behold, I cannot speak: for I am a child.
7 But the Lord said unto me, Say not, I am a child: for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I command thee thou shalt speak.
8 Be not afraid of their faces: for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith the Lord.
9 Then the Lord put forth his hand, and touched my mouth. And the Lord said unto me, Behold, I have put my words in thy mouth.
10 See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant.
11 Moreover the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Jeremiah, what seest thou? And I said, I see a rod of an almond tree.
12 Then said the Lord unto me, Thou hast well seen: for I will hasten my word to perform it.
13 And the word of the Lord came unto me the second time, saying, What seest thou? And I said, I see a seething pot; and the face thereof is toward the north.
14 Then the Lord said unto me, Out of the north an evil shall break forth upon all the inhabitants of the land.
A careful observation of the above scriptural reference will show that the phrases “the word of the lord” and “the lord” were used interchangeably. This further gives credence to the fact that the word of the lord is a person and that is the lord. Sometimes he is referred to as the lord of host in the writings of the prophets.
1st Kings 19:4-11
4 But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a juniper tree: and he requested for himself that he might die; and said, It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life; for I am not better than my fathers.
5 And as he lay and slept under a juniper tree, behold, then an angel touched him, and said unto him, Arise and eat.
6 And he looked, and, behold, there was a cake baken on the coals, and a cruse of water at his head. And he did eat and drink, and laid him down again.
7 And the angel of the Lord came again the second time, and touched him, and said, Arise and eat; because the journey is too great for thee.
8 And he arose, and did eat and drink, and went in the strength of that meat forty days and forty nights unto Horeb the mount of God.
9 And he came thither unto a cave, and lodged there; and, behold, the word of the Lord came to him, and he said unto him, What doest thou here, Elijah?
10 And he said, I have been very jealous for the Lord God of hosts: for the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.
11 And he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the Lord. And, behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the Lord was not in the earthquake:
Verses 5 and 7 has the phrases angel of the lord. Verse 9 has the phrase the word of the lord. This refers to the same person. The word angel describes an action. It is more of a verb than a noun. God can sometimes be his own messenger if he is the one bringing his own message to his prophets. He can be referred to as a messenger.
Genesis 48:16 “The Angel which redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads; and let my name be named on them, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth.” God is described as an angel in this scenario.
Exodus 23:20-23 “
20 Behold, I send an Angel before thee, to keep thee in the way, and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared.
21 Beware of him, and obey his voice, provoke him not; for he will not pardon your transgressions: for my name is in him.
22 But if thou shalt indeed obey his voice, and do all that I speak; then I will be an enemy unto thine enemies, and an adversary unto thine adversaries.
23 For mine Angel shall go before thee, and bring thee in unto the Amorites, and the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Canaanites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites: and I will cut them off.
Back to John 1:1-5.
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
2 The same was in the beginning with God.
3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.
4 In him was life; and the life was the light of men.
5 And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.
John is saying that Jesus was visible in the Old Testament. His actions were visible among the prophets. The lord working with the prophets was Jesus. As earlier stated, all human beings are visible but not all visible beings are humans. Angels are visible but not humans.
The only difference between the actions of Jesus in the Old Testament and in the four gospels is that he became a man in the four gospels. That’s why in John 1:14 , John wrote
“And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.”
The Lord and the word whose actions were visible in the Old Testament scriptures now became a man. The word now took up flesh and dwelt among men. He has always dwelt among men but in the four gospels he dwelt as a man. John said his glory was full of grace and truth. His incarnation was filled with his graciousness. No shadows. No mystery. Just grace only which is the reality of who he is. No adumbration but full of grace.
Confession: My knowledge of who God is can only be found in Christ. I’m not confused as to what God’s nature and character is. I know that God is absolutely gracious.
